Weekend Race Recap
SATURDAY -
Saturday 2pm Racing Winner: Obsession
Saturday Night Racing Winner: The Patriot
Saturday 2pm Freestyle Winner: El Toro Loco
Saturday Night Freestyle Winner: El Toro Loco
With 3 different world champions in the building and then some of the best drivers on the world tour all battling for the top spots in 3 different competitions it made for a wild day in Portland. The Rose Garden Monster Jam fans went wild from the opening hit in the wheelie contest and maintained the party atmosphere until the end of freestyle. The Monster Jam fans in Portland are some of the best on tour. They are a well educated group of fans, knowing what they want and then approving when they got it.
The excitement started each show in the pro truck qualifying. The speeds and driving skill that the competitors displayed was was cool. Mike Reynolds had a complete barrel roll in the final turn and still finished the race fast enough to move on to the next round. Chris pace kept things interesting with his Ford Ranger. A 4 cylinder, 2 wheel drive vs. some of the fastest V-8 4x4's in the business. Pace went to the final both times but came up short to the Ford of Mike Reynolds and the Jeep of John Alexander.
Rick Swanson dedicated his racing win to his wife Jill who was acting as crew chief for Rick. Swanson, always a contender in any venue against any competitor, came away with a tight victory against The Patriot. The Patriot had a fill in driver, Andy Peckham, who did an admirable job of filling Dan Radoni's seat. As proven by his racing win on Saturday night, taking the victory over Time Flys, who came back in after Obsession had a tire issue.
Saturday 2p Racing Bracket
Round 1
Obsession vs. Monster Mutt Obsession wins
El Toro Loco vs. Tropical Thunder El Toro wins
Time Flys lost to GraveDigger
The Patriot wins against Captains Curse
Semi Final
Obsession vs. El Toro Obsession wins
The Patriot defeats GraveDigger
Final
Obsession beat The Patriot
Saturday Night Racing Bracket
Round 1
GraveDigger vs El Toro Loco El Toro victorious
Tropical Thunder vs The Patriot Patriot wins
Captains Curse vs. Monster Mutt Mutt won
Obsession vs Time Flys Obsession wins but can not return due to tire issue
Semi Final
Time Flys vs Monster Mutt Time Flys goes to main event
The Patriot again beats GraveDigger
Final
The Patriot wins the main event, out running Time Flys
Monster Jam Sky Wheelie Competition scores 2pm and 7:30pm
Tropical Thunder 18, 15
Time Flys 24, 23
Obsession 18, 17
Monster Mutt 23, 22
El Toro Loco 29, 23
The Patriot 15, 16
Captains Curse 28, 28
GraveDigger 30, 27
Monster Jam Freestyle Competition Scores 2pm and 7:30pm
Time Flys 9, 16
Tropical Thunder 15, 12
Obsession 23, 20
Monster Mutt 25, 21
The Patriot 18, 20
El Toro Loco 27, 27
Captains Curse 20, 19
GraveDigger 19, 26
SUNDAY -
2 things stuck out this weekend in Portland. 1st, that GraveDigger did not get a win of any kind until Sunday. Second, The Patriot tool 2 of the 3 racing wins. That The Patriot won races is not the part that stands out. Its the fact the the owner, driver of the truck was not in the seat. Dan Radoni was taken down by a winter bug, and that put the driving duties to Andy Peckham, normally a crew guy for The Patriot and Tropical Thunder. Andy had big shoes to fill, but he did a fantastic job, winning races and then setting the bar in freestyle. Lupe Sosa made the remark that the Andy had done a great job, stating " the regular guy in the seat doesn't run it this hard, so good job to Andy".
Rod Schmidt and Digger put a good fight in all of the competitions, but just could not get the run he needed to win until Sunday. Rod aired the truck out on the van stack before putting it on its lid performing on of Rod's trade mark moves of walking a skywheelie across the car stack.
Another note of interest on Sunday was Alex Blackwell and Captains Curse receiving the qualifying flag for the World Finals. Alex had driven all weekend with a severely sprained ankle, but the dude is tough. Iced the bad wheel between shows on Saturday and then all night and was nearly good as new on Sunday. It was surprising to see him moving around as well as he was knowing what his ankle looked like. many sizes bigger than normal, and several different shades of color that typically are not found on the human body.
Shrek did a great job. Moto Moto ran Tropical Thunder thru the paces, staying right in the game. Give Mike a little more seat time and his confidence level will grow and then, watch out.
Lupe Sosa is a whole lot of fun to be around and almost more fun to watch run the El Toro Loco truck. Sometimes it seems as if Lupe is going at it like it the last time he will be in the truck or maybe the last time the truck will run, since it seems he is trying to kill the Bull.
Kelvin Rammer and Time Flys probably should have won all 3 sky wheelie contests. no one attacks that competition like Kelvin. He uses timing, horsepower and momentum to launch some of the most killer sky wheelies on tour. Some drivers idle to the stack and then try for brute horsepower to stand the truck straight up and down, well Kelvin does that as well, very high, very vertical and at RACING SPEED. Now, that's cool!!
Sky Wheelie Scores:
Tropical Thunder 13
Time Flys 22
Obsession 18
Monster Mutt 21
El Toro Loco 26
The Patriot 19
Captains Curse 21
GraveDigger 24
Monster Mutt pilot Lee O'Donnell had a great fan base in Portland. lots of folks were cheering for the Mutt. Lee had the dog dragging its tail in the sky wheelie contest and then almost won his way to the main event in racing. In freestyle, lee was determined to have a good run, which he did, but he couldn't catch a break with the judges. The Mutt never did get into victory lane, but the fans will always remember the tremendous show Lee and Monster Mutt put on in the Rose Garden. While the Mutt struggled to get wins, Rick Swanson could not get back to victory lane after a win on Saturday afternoon. It seemed like Rick was headed back to the finals and a win on Saturday night but had a tire issue keep him out of the race. On Sunday, Rick looked to have the win from my vantage point, but the nod went to El Toro, bumping Obsession out of racing contention.
Racing Brackets
Round 1
Captains Curse stops Time Flys
El Toro gores Obsession
Monster Mutt bites Tropical Thunder
The Patriot shows his colors by beating GraveDigger
Semi Final
Captains Curse buries the Bull
The Patriot spanked the Mutt
Final
The Patriot shined on in the main beating the Curse
Freestyle Scores:
Time Flys 21
Tropical Thunder 17
Obsession 21
Monster Mutt 25
The Patriot 26
El Toro 23
Captains Curse 21
GraveDigger 28
